**Please note that although this has input from other established Qsl Managers in the UK, the page relates SOLELY to MY policy and although several things may apply to us all, please treat this document as MY policy ONLY. The other guys have their own policies clearly marked out on their own websites. This policy should only be adhered to when requesting cards from MØOXO either by Direct, Bureau or M0OXO OQRS options.**
Using the M0OXO OQRS facility on my web site is strongly recommended and much preferred. You can also send direct through Post Mail but please include adequate postage and a good quality C6 sized self addressed envelope (SAE) (114 mm x 162 mm, 4.5″ x 6.4″) for its return. Self addressed labels and UK postage stamps are no use to me as I use a Royal Mail On-line Postal account which cannot accommodate stamps or coins. Therefore Stamps, Coins and Address Labels are simply NOT welcome.
If sending via the postal system, please send only Bank Notes in either US Dollar Bills or Euro Notes. Soon it will be no longer possible to cash IRC’s in the UK. Therefore from the 1st May 2013 I will no longer be accepting IRC’s. Please accept my apologies but this is beyond my control. Any IRC’s sent after this date will be disposed of and cards returned via the bureau.Small denomination notes and coins of other currencies are not exchangeable at UK banks and thus worthless. Given the bank charges, small value cheques not drawn on UK banks are also worthless. Applications not including adequate return postage will be returned via the bureau.
Postal Direct/OQRS Direct QSL requests are treated as a priority and my aim is to process and mail the replies within a reasonable time of their receipt. I send my mail once each week, usually on a friday so subject to the logs and cards being available, cards would be replied to up to 7 days latest.
OQRS/Bureau requests are processed after Postal Direct/OQRS Direct Mail which as I have said has the priority. There may be a delay in you receiving such bureau QSL(s), as the bureau process is very slow and, due to the large volume of bureau cards that I handle, delay of several years is to be expected if sending via RSGB Bureau. The cards belonging to stations that are not Members of the RSGB (generally DX stations or operations outside of the UK), their cards get sent Direct to World Bureaus every few months (by-passing the RSGB bureau) and this gives a far faster turnaround of cards and my aim is to enable you to receive your card within 6 to12 months latest, dependant on how efficient the bureau is in your own Country.
OQRS is by far the most efficient and fastest way for you to receive your card. Please make M0OXO OQRS your first choice when deciding how to claim your paper qsl card. many of the DX stations I manage DO NOT NEED your card so simply request your card via OQRS. You can choose OQRS Direct (and pay postage only by Paypal) or OQRS Bureau (and receive your card via your own bureau without having to send a card yourself). How much simpler can it be? Some stations do require your card so if that is the case (details shown here of who does and does not need your card) please just drop your card through to me as normal. In any case, you will still get your card at a faster speed.
I will reply to every first time QSL request received. Duplicate requests often fall into the category of ‘indiscriminate QSL-ing‘ and are dealt with accordingly. If you use the OQRS system to request a bureau card, please do NOT send a duplicate card via the bureau (unless requested on the page listed here), as it achieves nothing more than clog up the bureau system unnecessarily.
Assuming they check with the log, I will only confirm those QSOs listed on your card, not every QSO listed for you in the DX station’s log, so please make sure you apply for ALL the QSOs you need confirmed, preferably on a single card. I firmly believe that the purpose of the QSL is to confirm that two way contact took place. Indiscriminately confirming all the QSO’s in the log leads to the possibility of the applicant receiving confirmation of a QSO which he didn’t actually make, possibly due to the DX station operator’s logging a busted call or QRM at the time of the QSO. This can lead in turn to the operator of the correct version of the busted call being refused a QSL for an otherwise valid QSO.
A ‘pet-hate’ of mine with OQRS/Bureau are those that use it to request a card they need – that’s fine. BUT, then they see that they have worked ’27’ different stations that I also manage and then they proceed to request ALL of these cards – why? It is highly likely that you do not NEED all the qsl’s but simply WANT them because they are ‘free’. You will not always get them all without a good reason for it. If you DO actually NEED the cards then of course I will send them, I agree to do that as part of the Qsl Managers Society Rules but please think first. Why clog the bureau system up by asking for 27 cards that you never even bothered to request in the past but now, purely because you see they are available you have to have them?. These cards cost me money, the labels and Ink cost me money and having to unnecessarily process them all costs me valuable time so please STOP THIS PRACTICE NOW before it really does get out of hand. This is also ‘indiscriminate Qsl’in’ in my opinion.
Busted calls are callsigns incorrectly logged by the DX station. A DX station’s logs cannot and never will be 100% accurate. Given the involvement of humans and computers (and even paper logs) there are simply too many ways for a callsign or other information to get into the log incorrectly. However, DX-ers should realise that they have no “right” to a QSL card if the callsign is not correct in the log. I recognise this problem and will often give the benefit of the doubt to a station with a similar, but not exact, callsign taking into consideration similar Morse characters or phonetics, always provided that the date, time, mode and frequency for the claimed QSO check accurately against the log. Time is the most important of these parameters, and it is thus essential to maintain accurately your own logs in Universal Time Co-ordinated (UTC). You cannot reasonably expect me to search through a log of some tens of thousands of QSO’s for a busted call if you do not provide me with accurate data to work from. If you are not in the log for any reason, I will return your card with the bad news. Also, please backup your logs! I cannot provide information to you in support of your QSL request if your data has been lost.. (the old ”my Hard Drive has failed” excuse!) It would breach the integrity of the dxpedition logs and be unethical to do so, so please save yourself the embarrassment and don’t even ask!
Make sure your return envelope, if folded, has the fold to the bottom of the sending envelope. This saves it being cut in half when the original is opened 😉
Please only QSL via one route. e.g. If you send a card Direct, please do not send another via the Bureau! Extra work with no benefit to anyone as I will not send twice! If you are convinced that your original card has been lost in the bureau system and wish for a duplicate card, then please re-send your request with a separate self addressed envelope (SAE) and adequate return postage for each callsign and I will be happy to provide a suitably endorsed, duplicate card. Otherwise, HAVE PATIENCE, the bureau system takes a long, long time!
Finally, you must remember to do one single extremely important thing. You must remember that when you send your request it is essential that you mark in your log that you have done so. You should mark the Qso entry as ‘Qsl Sent’. Most electronic Logging software will do this automatically but sometimes (and in particular with OQRS) it does not provide the facility. The easiest way around this is to add it to the ‘comment’ field of your Logbook. Just a few bits of text such as ”Qsl sent Direct”, ‘Qsl via Bureau’ or ‘Qsl sent via OQRS/Paypal’. This will enable you to check on the progress of a card but mainly, it will stop you from sending duplicate requests for cards you may have forgotten you have already requested. Please request using ONE ROUTE ONLY.
Thanks to Phil Whitchurch G3SWH & Tim Beaumont M0URX for their thoughts and input into this page.
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